Chapter 129: Chapter 129: The Value of the Treasure (Happy New Year!)

There was nobody to greet them at the harbor. In fact, under Arthur’s sudden command, the harbor went into a day-long alert, during which no unrelated individuals were allowed near.

Although people were unclear about what had happened at the harbor, they all respectfully kept their distance.

After all, since the alert was set to last only one day, it didn’t greatly affect their lives.

Guided by the lead escort ship, two huge transport ships slowly docked at the harbor.

At the harbor, thousands of large boxes had been prepared in advance to house all the treasure. It was to be transported to a safe place for counting, masked under an inconspicuous appearance.

Just the task of packing all the treasures into the boxes consumed a substantial four hours of time.

To transport these treasures, Arthur had deployed scores of horse carriages and over a thousand royal guards for security.

Eventually, all the treasures were temporarily transferred to Arthur’s manor house, where a specially prepared underground warehouse was located that was large enough to accommodate the treasures and was highly secure.

Although onlookers were extremely curious about the grand procession of carriages heading for Arthur’s manor, none of the young men dared to take a peek.

The mere sight of the armed royal guards escorting the convoy was more than enough to deter them, let alone the fact that the destination was a heavily guarded manor house.

At the manor, Barty Crouch once again met with Arthur. Arthur, with a smile on his face, patted Barty on the shoulder and said in a jovial tone, “Barty, you’ve done a great job with this mission. These treasures will suffice to support the royal family and Australia’s future plans.”

Although the precise value of the batch of treasures was not clear, they were undoubtedly sufficient to support Australia’s industrial development plan for the next two or three years.

“Your Highness, it is all because of your intelligence. Without your tip about the vast wealth in the temple, nobody else would have thought of targeting it,” Barty Crouch replied, shrugging off the praise.

This was the power of intelligence. Without prior knowledge of the colossal treasure inside the temple, sending thousands of men on the mission would probably have yielded no returns in India.

“Ha, ha, ha, as you say, Barty. But without your training of the intelligence officers and your leadership during the operation, we wouldn’t have been this successful. Rest assured, even though, for various reasons, we can’t divulge the information about this operation, everyone will receive their due rewards. I won’t let any of Australia’s heroes go unrewarded,” Arthur reassured, patting Barty on the shoulder again in an undeniable tone.

After hearing Arthur’s words, all Barty could do was nod his head in acknowledgment.

“Alright, take your men and rest for a few days! There will be more important tasks to hand over to you fellows in the future. The Royal Security Intelligence Agency will become one of my most crucial forces,” Arthur advised, noting the puffiness under Barty’s eyes from lack of sleep during the operation.

It was only expected. Since this was the first major operation undertaken by the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, which Arthur had high expectations from, both the theft and transportation of the treasure had to be done very cautiously.

As the chief commander of the operation and the head of the Royal Security Intelligence Agency, it would have indeed been strange if Barty could sleep soundly during the mission.

“Yes, Your Highness!” Barty did not decline. Being sleep-deprived for several days in succession had him exhausted, and an extended rest was precisely what he and his intelligence officers needed now.

After all the treasure had been transported to the underground warehouse at the manor, the task of inventory was then entrusted to the royal guards and manor servants.

Given the allure of the treasure haul, there had to be at least five unfamiliar individuals beside every person involved in the inventory process.

If the inventory-takers were royal guards, then they had to be accompanied by unfamiliar soldiers from different units.

Because everyone around them were strangers, it efficiently curtailed any potential acts of theft or smuggling.

Of course, everyone had to undergo strict inspections before and after the inventory process to ensure no treasure was taken out or hoarded.

Compared to the time required to transport the treasure, counting it took even longer.

Even though hundreds of individuals, including royal guards and servants, were deployed, the inventory process still took more than six hours.

Starting from the afternoon and working into the night, they managed to roughly tally and record the specific count of treasures.

How enormous was the temple’s treasure hoard? The total weight of the gold and silver treasures exceeded sixty tons, out of which gold currency and jewelry alone weighed more than thirty tons. There were also a large number of gemstones and other treasures.

Silver items made up the smallest portion of the treasure, weighing in at less than ten tons. This was because they had chosen to abandon many low-value silver items after giving it much thought.

If they had included those vast quantities of silver items, the total weight of the treasure would have been at least eighty tons, making transportation even more challenging.

The most eye-catching item amongst all was a golden Buddha statue, slightly bigger than a real person. Although its size was barely life-size, it weighed a lot more and was the most troublesome to transport.

It even weighed more than the golden elephant statue and was the most attractive amongst all the treasures.

Truth be told, Arthur didn’t know much about the treasure in the temple apart from some media reports.

But these reports were largely sensationalized, with the specific figures in each article hardly matching up.

The only thing that could be assured was that the treasure inside the temple was of high value and was worth billions of US dollars in later generations.

Although many items’ values would have decreased significantly a hundred years ago due to various age factors, such a colossal treasure was undeniably valuable and certainly met Arthur’s expectations.

For the gold currency and jewelry, Arthur issued instructions to have them melted down into gold bars as a reserve for the future issuance of new currency.

Keeping such a massive amount of gold items in the warehouse was a waste, and Arthur didn’t need these items to flaunt his wealth, especially since their origin could not be openly revealed.

The thirty-plus tons of gold were a significant addition to the issuance of new currency and would also increase the Australian Government’s limited gold reserves.

However, this batch of gold belonged to Arthur and the royal family. Even if it was to be used in the future for issuing new currency, the ownership would still be retained by the Royal Bank.

Upon seeing the treasure’s value estimates on the inventory list, Arthur was slightly surprised.

The value of this treasure hoard was not only capable of supporting Australia’s industrial growth for one or two years, but it could also easily sustain development for up to five years.